Sponge mop



Jan. 26, 1965 J. BLUM SPONGE MOP Filed June 26, 1965 ZNVENTOR: JBsEF BLz/M United States Patent 3,166,774 SPONGE MOP Josef Blum, 33 Vereinstrasse, Solingen, Germany Filed June 26, 1963, Ser. No. 290,772 4 Claims. (Cl. '15119) This invention relates to that kind of household cleaning device which includes a resiliently compressible sponge block, mounted on a support, and means for compressing said sponge block for pressing out soiled cleaning liquid. Such devices are commonly known as sponge mops.

The object of this invention is to provide an improved construction the features and advantages of which will be apparent from the following description.

According to the present invention a sponge mop comprises a carrier, two spaced guides projecting at each side from the carrier, a sponge block having two separate parts disposed one at each side of the carrier and slidably mounted on the two guides, and means for compressing said sponge part-s along the guides.

In one form, the compressing means comprise two compressing plates disposed one at the outer end of each sponge part, and means for drawing said plates towards the carrier. Removable end stops for the compressing plates may be carried by the guides.

For guiding the compressing plates, they may be apertured or cut away so as to receive and be slidable along the guides.

The compressing means may further include respective cables secured to the compressing plates, and a common pulling device coupled to the two cables. For example, the carrier may be disposed on a shaft having a pivoted hand lever and a draw bar coupled at one end to the hand lever, said draw bar being coupled at its other end to the two cables. The carrier may include respective loose pulleys for the two cables, and in a convenient construction the carrier comprises two parts separably secured together, one such part having a tenon which can seat into a corresponding recess of the other part, said tenon serving as a common journal for the two pulleys.

A construction of sponge mop in accordance with the invention is now described with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view, showing one half of the sponge block removed.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the sponge mop, taken on two different planes.

FIG. 3 is a transverse vertical section of the sponge mop.

The sponge mop comprises a tubular shaft 1, which may be extended upwardly by any convenient handle (not shown). On the lower end of the shaft 1 is mounted a carrier housing 2 having a stem 3 which is inserted in the shaft and secured by the screw 4. The carrier housing has two parts 2a, 2b secured together by a screw 5. A tenon 6 on the housing part 2b enters into a corresponding cylindrical recess 7 in the housing part 2a and forms a journal for two loose pulleys 8 and 9.

A hand lever 10 has a fork 11 mounted on the shaft 1 by pivots 12 and includes a pin 13 about which is engaged a loop 14 formed at the upper end of a draw bar 15. The lower end of the draw bar is secured to one end of two flexible cables 16, 17 which pass respectively round the pulleys 8 and 9.

The parts 2a and 2b of the carrier housing have respective bores 18 and 19 in which two spaced parallel tubular guide bars 20 and 21 are secured by screws 22. The guide bars 20, 21 extend equally from each side of the housing 2.

A sponge block for the mop is formed in two half blocks 23a and 23b, which may be of sponge plastic, each 3,166,774 Patented Jan. 26, 1965 of which has two parallel bores 24 to permit the half block to be slid onto the parallel guide bars 20 and 21. Each half block is also cut away at one end, as at 25, to accommodate the lateral portions 26a, 26b of the housing 2. Further, each block has a central slot 27 in its upper part to receive the, other end of the respective cable 16 or 17. At the other endof each cable there is secured a rivet 31 by which the cable is coupled releasably to a compressor plate 28 having holes 29 to enable it to slide along the guide bars 20, 21. The rivet 31 is seated in a hole at the apex of a V-shaped slot in the compressor plate. The compressor plates are placed at the outer ends of the half block-s 23a, 23b and are enclosed in a wrapper of plastic film. To prevent the compressor plates and half blocks inadvertently coming off the guide bars 20, 21, small resilient plug fasteners 30 of plastic material are pressed manually into the open ends of the guide bars 20, 21 to act as end stops, and can be removed manually when required. I

It will be seen that a lifting movement of the hand lever 10 will cause the draw bar 15 to be moved up the shaft 1, thereby pulling on the cables 16 and 17 and causing them to pull the respective compressor plates 28, 2'8 inwardly along the guide bars. This inward movement causes the respective half sponge blocks to be compressed inwardly, against the housing 2, to eject cleaning liquid. When the hand lever 10 is moved down again to the position shown, the cables 16, 17 are slackened and the natural resilience of the half sponge blocks drives the respective compressor plates 28, 28 outwardly again to the ends of the guide bars 20, 21. During this expansion of the half sponge blocks, they can absorb more cleansing liquid.

The half sponge blocks are mounted on the housing 2 by means of the two parallel guide bars, and accordingly there is positive locking of the sponge blocks against rotation with respect to the housing 2, when the sponge mop is moved backwards and forwards over the surface to be cleaned.

The rigid parts of the device, i.e. the housing 2 and the guide bars 20, 21, do not project from the front, rear, or bottom surfaces of the sponge block, and accordingly the sponge block acts as a resilient cushion which protects furniture, floor surfaces etc. from being directly contacted by those rigid parts.

The use of the compressor plates 28, pulled by their cables 16, 17 permits the half sponge blocks 23a, 23b to have only a simple central slot 27 which can readily be formed in the blocks during manufacture.

The formation of the sponge block as two half blocks 23a and 23b permits each half block to be slid endwise on and off the guide bars 29, 21, so that the half blocks need only have two plain bores 24 for reception of the guide bars, and these bores can readily be formed in the blocks during manufacture.

The resilient plastic plug fasteners 30 can easily be removed and replaced by the housewife when it is necessary to take off a half block and replace it by another new half block. Moreover, the provision of the sponge as two separate half blocks permits each half to be removed and replaced independently if required, e.g. when one half block becomes worn before the other. Due to the resilience of the sponge, the cut away portion 25 can be made central and symmetrical, so that both half blocks are identical and the same type of half block can he used at both sides of the device.

This application is a continuation in part of my copend-ing application Serial Number 259,965, filed February 20, 1963, now abandoned.

Iclaim:

l. A sponge mop assembly comprising a carrier, two

spaced guides secured to the carrier and projecting at each side thereof, an elongated sponge block extending Wholly outwardly of said carrier and acting as a cushion, having two separate parts disposed one at each side of the carrier and 'sl-idably mounted on the two guides and substantially encasing the same in the mopping position, two compressing plates disposed one at each outer end of a respective sponge part, a respective cable coupled at one end to each compressing plate, and connected through the sponge blocks to a common pulling device coupled to the other end of each cable and mounted on a shaft attached to the carrier.

2. A sponge mop, as set forth in claim 1, comprising pivot means on said shaft, a hand lever mounted on the pivot means, and a draw bar coupled at one end to the hand lever, the other end of the draw bar being coupled to the other end of the two cables.

3. A sponge map, as set forth in claim 1, comprising References Cited. by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,646,587 7/53 Sjoblom 15119.1 3,031,706 5/62 Daline 15--l19.l

FOREIGN PATENTS 983,640 2/51 France.

CHARLES A. WILLMUTH, Primary Examiner.

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1. A SPONGE MOP ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A CARRIER, TWO SPACED GUIDES SECURED TO THE CARRIER AND PROJECTING AT EACH SIDE THEREOF, AN ELONGATED SPONGE BLOCK EXTENDING WHOLLY OUTWARDLY OF SAID CARRIER AND ACTING AS A CUSHION, HAVING TWO SEPARATE PARTS DISPOSED ONE AT EACH SIDE OF THE CARRIER AND SLIDABLY MOUNTED ON THE TWO GUIDES AND SUBSTANTIALLY ENCASING THE SAME IN THE MOPPING POSITION, TWO COMPRESSING PLATES DISPOSED ONE AT EACH OUTER END OF A RESPECTIVE SPONGE PART, A RESPECTIVE CABLE COUPLED AT ONE END AT EACH COMPRESSING PLATE, AND CONNECTED 